01 January 2017

Managing Agreement

Here is a management theory explained as an allegory. See if you recognize the decision-making process which made the "Abilene Paradox" possible.

______________

In an Abilene paradox a group of people
collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of
many (or all) of the individuals in the group. It involves a common breakdown of group communication in
which each member mistakenly believes that their own preferences are counter to
the group's and, therefore, does not raise objections.

A common phrase relating
to the Abilene Paradox is a desire not to "rock the boat." This
differs from groupthink in that the Abilene paradox is characterized by
an inability to manage agreement.

Going out for dinner

The term was introduced by management
expert Jerry B. Harvey in his 1974 article The Abilene
Paradox: The Management of Agreement. The name of the phenomenon comes from an anecdote in the
article which Harvey uses to elucidate the paradox:

On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman,
Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a
porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene
[53 miles north] for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great
idea." The husband, despite having reservations because the drive is long
and hot, thinks that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group and
says, "Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go." The
mother-in-law then says, "Of course I want to go. I haven't been to
Abilene in a long time."

The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive
at the cafeteria, the food is as bad as the drive. They arrive back home four
hours later, exhausted.

One of them dishonestly says, "It was a great trip,
wasn't it?" The mother-in-law says that, actually, she would rather have
stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic.

The
husband says, "I wasn't delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only
went to satisfy the rest of you." The wife says, "I just went along
to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat
like that." The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because
he thought the others might be bored.

The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided
to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit
comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the
afternoon.

Summary

Ronald Sims writes that the Abilene paradox is similar to groupthink, but differs in significant ways, including that in groupthink individuals are not acting contrary to their conscious wishes and generally feel good about the decisions the group has reached.

According to Sims, in the Abilene paradox, the individuals acting contrary to their own wishes are more likely to have negative feelings about the outcome. In Sims' view, groupthink is a psychological phenomenon affecting clarity of thought, where in the Abilene paradox thought is unaffected.

Like groupthink theories, the Abilene paradox theory is used to illustrate that groups not only have problems managing disagreements, but that agreements may also be a problem in a poorly functioning group.